CCHQ has responded to Lord Cruddas and The Conservative Post website’s petition to get Boris on the ballot paper. The update by Cruddas acknowledges co-chairs Ben Elliot and Andrew Stephenson got back to him within the time frame requested by his original legal letter, and confirmed he is correct about the party’s rule that 10,000 member signatures are needed to make changes to the constitution. A Conservative Post source described the reply as “progress”…

Stephenson has also requested the petition be sent to them in a secure format, so they can validate membership details of signatories. Cruddas says will take around 24 hours.

“We are in further dialog about the contents of the petition and my letter but as there are legal and constitutional issues I cannot update you further for now.”

Lord Cruddas concludes his update with “#takebackcontrol”. The classics are the best…